From the incense of mortals, channeled by entities beyond the pale, flows the Source of All, a lifeblood that fortifies the body and grants immortality.

Yet, within the confines of the realms, this same incense, once a bounty, becomes a cursed scarcity, a celestial shackle. It bars the path to the Third Step, and for those few who ascend, it leaves them vulnerable. Should their essence be depleted or their Source wounded, recovery is a Sisyphean task.

Wang Lin, however, defied this decree. He achieved the Third Step not through the fickle favor of incense, but through the profound mastery of his Three Primordial Illusions and the voracious Devourment that brought his Elemental Sources of Lightning and Fire to their zenith.

Thus, he stands apart from his peers, needing no incense. Instead, he craves the very Source others have painstakingly forged. He devours infinite essence, and through it, he restores and elevates his power.

Similarly, he carries within him no Incense Realm, that ubiquitous construct of the Spirit Void cultivators who seek to merge it with their being, to become one with the world, to achieve a false completion.

Wang Lin’s flesh is of the Ancient Gods, a form that transcends all notions of perfection. It is this divine lineage, coupled with his cultivation at the Zenith of Spirit Void, that allows him to slay Ascendant Profound cultivators in their early stages.

Even against those who have ascended further, Wang Lin dares to battle, though victory hangs in the balance. Yet, none may hope to slay him easily.

The path Wang Lin walks to the Third Step diverges wildly from all others. Even the esteemed Seven-Colored Immortal treads a different road. For even he, despite his stature, still requires incense, albeit purified and free from poison.

Wang Lin’s path, though perhaps not entirely untrodden, is fraught with peril, a road of infinite length and impossible terrain. If he wishes to reach the Ascendant Profound realm, he must awaken and perfect still more Sources, ever striving for new heights of mastery.

While others who attain the Third Step find their initial Source eternally incomplete, Wang Lin is unbound. He may yet unlock a seventh Source, an eighth, a ninth, even a tenth!

And because his power does not derive from incense, his Sources are free from the fatal flaw that plagues so many who have walked before. He now seeks to discover and cultivate a seventh Source, and when it reaches its zenith, he will ascend to the Late Stage of Spirit Void!

Should an eighth Source emerge and reach its full potential, he would challenge the very peak of the Spirit Void realm!

And when nine Sources have been awakened within him, he will stand upon the threshold of Ascendant Profound. Then, through the union of all, the Nine returning to One, should he possess the wisdom and fortune to merge these Sources into a single, unifying force – the power known in the Immortal Astral Continent as the Void – he could face the tribulations of the Third Step. Should he survive this ordeal, he would become a Void Calamity Grand Empyrean!

Void Calamity, Ascendant Profound… Between them lies the Calamity of Mortality, a crucible of life and death. To conquer it is to live; to fail is to perish. There is no exception, no detour. This chasm must be crossed.

This Calamity is also known as the Profound Tribulation, and it comes in nine waves. Only by enduring all nine can one truly enter the realm of Void Calamity.

Even the venerable Palm Sovereign has only weathered three of these waves, lacking the courage to face the fourth.

The esteemed Blue Dream Dao Sovereign has not yet overcome even the first, forever stalled at the peak of Ascendant Profound’s Late Stage. It is not fear of death that holds him back, but the unbreakable bonds that tether his heart. He has yet to complete a final task, and cannot face the regret of failure.

In countless millennia, within all the realms, many talented souls have risen. A few have reached the Third Step, but ultimately, only one born of the realms has survived eight waves of the Profound Tribulation. But one trial remains before he may claim the title of Sovereign!

He is the ancient War Fiend! He failed during the fifth trial and should have died. The Palm Sovereign knows this, but what he does not know is that the War Fiend somehow obtained a wondrous celestial fortune!

This fortune granted him a surge of power, allowing him to conquer the next three trials and stop before the ninth.

A Void Calamity cultivator is known as a Grand Empyrean in the Immortal Astral Continent. They stand at the summit of the Third Step, and if they can take that legendary step, they can enter the Void!

The Seven-Colored Immortal is a Void Calamity Grand Empyrean, but he has only achieved the Mid-Stage of the Calamity.

Despite being in the Mid-Stage, his reputation allows him to establish a sect in the Immortal Astral Continent! He founded the Seven Dao Sect!

Wang Lin’s knowledge of these matters is incomplete, and he has no time to dwell on them now. As he opens his eyes, he rises. His figure is not imposing, yet a powerful aura emanates from within, as though he upholds the very stars. He stands with his back to the realms, a protective ward of the Ancient Gods, inspiring a profound sense of security.

His eyes filled with calm resolve, Wang Lin takes a step forward, placing his foot upon the fading, dying Seal Array. It shudders, emitting a light far weaker than it once did.

In silence, Wang Lin raises his right foot and stamps down. The world quakes, and the Seal Array trembles violently. Its light flickers desperately, as if trying to recover. Patches of the net spread, grow, and eventually appear in every part of the realm.

Even the tens of thousands of Realm-Inside cultivators are currently resting in Luo Tian, ​​now open their eyes and see the Seal Array!

With one step, the Seal Array is completely manifested. Only by fully appearing can Wang Lin allow this array that is on the verge of death to complete its final years.

“You have sealed the inside and outside of the realm for countless years. You prevent outside invasions and prevent the inside from going out. To the inside, you are a guardian… therefore, I must pay you my respects!” Wang Lin clasped his fists and bowed to the manifested Seal Array!

“But at the same time, it is precisely because of your existence that there are so few Third Step powers in my realm, and the power of the realm inside and outside is completely disproportionate. Your existence makes the cultivators in my realm imprisoned and sealed forever!” Wang Lin raised his right hand and pressed it fiercely towards the Seal Array.

As his hand presses, the Cause and Effect imprint takes place. Wang Lin’s five fingers descend, and with a heaven-shaking rumble, he closes them into a fist and pulls outward with all his might.
“Causality’s Severance!” Wang Lin roared, his voice a low rumble that shook the very heavens. From his outstretched right hand, he wrenched forth a violent tremor from the Sealbound Array. A lightning bolt, crackling with untamed energy, erupted from within the structure and was violently ripped free by his will.

It materialized into a phantom spear of pure lightning, an embodiment of raw power. This was the Sacred Relic of the Lightning Flash Clan, a weapon whispered to hold the fury of the storm itself.

With a crushing grip, Wang Lin shattered the lightning spear. It exploded in a blinding cascade of electricity, unleashing countless bolts that snaked across millions of miles of the void. The starry expanse was bathed in an eerie, incandescent glow.

The spear, a spirit of the array woven into its very fabric since time immemorial, was now banished. Its essence, ripped from the Sealbound Array, was utterly annihilated. Never again would such a spirit reside within its confines.

As the spear collapsed, the Sealbound Array shuddered. Thin cracks, like spiderwebs on glass, appeared within the vast network that encompassed the realm.

“I know not who conceived you, but today, you are but a husk,” Wang Lin declared, his voice resonating with ancient power. “Return to oblivion! I, Wang Lin, shall weave a new array in this place. One born solely for the protection of my realm, sustained only by the spirit of those within! It shall belong entirely to the cultivators of my world!” He raised his right hand once more, unleashing six consecutive strikes upon the Sealbound Array.

Each of the six impacts echoed with the force of creation, each a severing of karmic ties. With every blow, the Sealbound Array crumbled further, the boundless net that spanned the heavens and encompassed the realm shattered into a million pieces.

A crimson tide, like the lifeblood of the universe, surged before Wang Lin, staining the collapsing array with an infernal glow. From within the chaos, agonized wails and tormented roars echoed through the heavens. A monstrous, nine-headed meteor hammer materialized, its passage marked by a deafening shriek that reverberated through all corners of existence. The hammer, brandished with terrifying might, exuded an aura of utter domination. Blackened blood dripped from its surface, a testament to endless carnage. Yet, as it broke free from the Sealbound Array, it disintegrated, vanishing into the void before Wang Lin’s eyes.

Hot on its heels, a wave of oppressive heat emanated forth as a colossal, flame-engulfed siege engine materialized. This war machine, a nightmarish construct, was yet another spirit of the Sealbound Array. Untold numbers of warriors, both from within and without the realm, had perished beneath its treads, the vast majority being natives of this very world.

Now, released from its prison, the war engine exploded in a cataclysm of fire, its essence scattering into the surrounding void.

Following the war engine, a blinding golden light erupted. From its core, a gilded blade shimmered into existence. Then, a tide of violet energy surged forth, engulfing the array. A serpentine whip, a thousand feet long and crackling with energy, snaked through the air. Countless runes adorned its length, hissing and twisting like a living python.

As the whip appeared, a wave of ancient, oppressive energy washed over the array. From the heart of the chaos, a massive, spiked club materialized. The head of the club, bristling with countless barbs and adorned with a writhing mass of tormented souls, bore testament to countless acts of brutal slaughter.

But the moment these three spirits manifested, they too succumbed to the forces tearing the array apart. They exploded in a simultaneous burst of annihilation, their essence fading into nothingness, lost forever within the crumbling Sealbound Array.

Alongside them, a final spirit, only partially formed, nothing more than a swirling mist, was ripped apart, consumed by the forces of entropy.

Of the nine guardian spirits of the Sealbound Array, seven were now utterly destroyed.

Wang Lin, his expression unyielding, gazed upon the collapsing remains of the Sealbound Array. The process was now irreversible. A cacophony of destruction echoed throughout the realm, its tremors felt by every cultivator within its borders. In that moment, all within the realm witnessed the Sealbound Array crumbling in the heavens, its layers peeling away, obliterating all boundaries between the inside and outside.

“Eighth Spirit of the Sealbound Array, sacred relic of my ancient clan, the Sky-Cleaving Axe! Will you return to my hand, or be swallowed by the destruction of this array? I grant you a single choice!” Wang Lin raised his right hand and swept it across the Sealbound Array. The array shuddered violently, and as it collapsed, its eighth spirit emerged.

Its power dwarfed that of the seven that had come before.

This spirit was none other than the Supreme Artifact of the Ancient God Clan, the Sky-Cleaving Axe!

Amidst the roaring chaos and the agonizing collapse of the array, a gigantic, spectral axe, radiating the essence of ancient godhood, slowly materialized, drifting forth from the heart of the destruction.

**(Author’s Note: My child is sick with a simplex herpes infection, contracted from other children at kindergarten. She can’t speak and has a fever. She passed it on to my wife, and they have the same symptoms. They are taking medicine as a precaution.

Yesterday’s chapter was delayed because I had to take my child to the hospital due to a high fever. Today it’s worse, and it breaks my heart to see my daughter suffering. I need to take care of them, so the chapter will be late.

But rest assured, I will make up for the missing chapter in the coming days!

Please favorite *Xian Ni*!)**